Profilefina07-08 web version - INSEAD - PhD Programme

PhD Candidates 2007-2008Surname Name Field PageAdam Hajo OB 18Aflaki Sam Decision Sciences 10Agrawal Anupam TOM 24Avcı Buket TOM 2Barbulescu Roxana OB 34Belavina Elena TOM 2Cavarretta Fabrice OB 30Chowdhury Imran OB 10Chuprinin Oleg Finance 3Crilly Donal Strategy 18Cui Zhijian TOM 11Dai Xianchi Marketing 30Deshpande Prashant OB 31Dimitrakas Vassilis Finance 38Drake David TOM 11Ener Hakan Strategy 24Ertug Gökhan OB 34Giangrande Manuela Strategy 35Gonçalves Dilney Marketing 19Jain Amit Strategy 19Kapoor Rahul Strategy 25Katona Zsolt Marketing 25Keck Steffen Decision Sciences 3La-Ornual Dolchai Decision Sciences 20Lajos Joseph Marketing 26Loutfi Zeina Decision Sciences 8Manconi Alberto Finance 20Mukherjee Kanchan Decision Sciences 26

PhD Candidates 2007-2008 - Cont’dSurname Name Field PageNasiry Javad TOM 21Obloj Tomasz Strategy 12Obodaru Otilia OB 21Ordabayeva Nailya Marketing 22Pache Anne-Claire OB 27Pedraza Martinez Alfonso TOM 12Peterson Todd OB 4Petrichtche Andrey Strategy 13Petriglieri Jennifer OB 13Ringov Dimo Strategy 31Sengul Metin Strategy 38Stamatogiannakis Antonios Marketing 14Tang Wenjie Decision Sciences 14Toegel Ina Strategy 4Tziri Ioanna Decision Sciences 35Vilkov Grigory Finance 36Wang Tong Decision Sciences 32Watson Noshua Strategy 27Xu Moqi Finance 15Yadav Vijay Finance 15Yang Haiyang Marketing 5Zaldokas Alminas Finance 5Zhang Kaifu Decision Sciences 6Zhang Lei Finance 28Zhang Man Strategy 6Zhang Yu Strategy 36Zubcsek Peter Marketing 16

Year 1: Entry September 20071

2Buket Avcı (Turkey/TOM)BS and MS Industrial Engineering, BogaziciUniversityBuket completed her BS and MS in Industrial Engineering atBogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey. She worked oncapacitated location-allocation problems for her master’s thesis.She was a member of the research team which worked on a longterm collaboration project between SAP Research and BogaziciUniversity. The objective of the project was to demonstrate theefficacy of agile and flexible planning and execution underhighly uncertain environments. She worked as a teachingassistant for courses on system simulation and operationsresearch since she was a senior student and as a research assistantin Manufacturing Management Systems laboratory in industrialengineering department.Elena Belavina (Russia/TOM)BSc and MSc Applied Mathematics and Physics,Moscow Institute of Physics and TechnologyElena completed her undergraduate and masters studies in thedepartment of Management and Applied Mathematics atMoscow Institute of Physics and Technology (State University)specializing in IT-Management. During her graduate studies sheworked on several research projects at the Institute for SystemAnalysis, Russian Academy of Science. Among them -multicriterion selecting mechanism of investment attractiveprojects for MIPT business incubator, intellectual capital growthmodelling and its market price estimation. Elena also worked asa teacher of mathematics and several other courses.

3Oleg Chuprinin (Ukraine/Finance)MS Applied Mathematics, Kharkiv StateUniversity; MBA Finance, Michigan StateUniversityWorking toward his graduate degree in Mathematics, Oleg wasengaged in consulting with several local companies and spent a yearat IMI group in the UK helping to rebuild a corporate salesoperating system. After graduating, Oleg worked as a researchanalyst at the Financial Markets Research Institute in Ukraine,focusing on topics related to emerging markets economies such asdebt securitization and disproportionate economic growth. Later,Oleg supervised several analyst teams and helped develop a riskassessmentframework for the network of commercial banks.Recently, Oleg completed a two-year MBA program at MichiganState University in the US. At that time, he acquired acute interest inthe asset pricing and investment theory while working part-timewith hedge fund managers on M&A-related projects.Steffen Keck (Germany/Decision Sciences)BA Economics, Universität Bamberg; BScBusiness Management and Economics, Universityof Wales; MSc Operational Research, LondonSchool of EconomicsSteffen spent the last year of his undergraduate studies at theUniversity of Wales in Swansea. Upon graduation he returned toGermany where he worked at the marketing department ofBoehringer Ingelheim, a pharmaceutical company and later forGreystone Consulting, a business consultancy. When continuinghis studies with a MSc in Operational Research Steffen startedbeing interested in questions concerning individual andorganisational decision making processes. In his Master thesis heapplied concepts drawn from the field of System Dynamics to theanalysis of changes within the distribution chain in the airlineindustry.

4Todd Peterson (USA/Organizational Behavior)BA Anthropology summa cum laude, University ofCalifornia, Los Angeles; MPhil Innovation,Strategy, and Organisation, Judge Business School,University of CambridgeDuring his undergraduate studies, Todd spent 15 monthsresearching culture change through entertainment in France.Todd has over ten years of professional experience, particularlyin technology and entertainment. He was Director, Production &Software Engineering for Universal Studios where he wasresponsible for the studio’s ecommerce systems and emergingtechnologies in mobile and video on-demand. Most recently hewas a project executive for Warner Bros’ international filmdistribution business. In his masters dissertation he explores theinterplay of culture on innovation practices through the processof organizational socialization, weaving them together to create apicture of innovation in a global work environment.Ina Toegel (Bulgaria/Germany/Strategy)BA Economics, Columbia University; MScManagement Research, Oxford UniversityIna received her undergraduate degree in Economics at ColumbiaUniversity NY in 2004. During her bachelor degree, she spentone semester at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po) inParis. Upon graduation from Columbia, she began her MSc inManagement Research at the Saïd Business School in Oxford.Prior to joining INSEAD, Ina has worked on infrastructureprojects in the power and airline sector of the Balkan region atthe International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group.

5Haiyang Yang (Japan/Marketing)BS Business Information Systems, BellevueUniversityBefore obtaining his degree in Business Information Systems fromBellevue University in Nebraska, Haiyang completed two otherdegrees in Computer Science & Arts at the University of Alaska. Hewas the first international student to be elected President of StudentGovernment in the State of Alaska. He has received recognitionssuch as Rotary Club Scholarship and Outstanding StudentLeadership Award for his academic and extracurricular endeavors.Prior to joining INSEAD, Haiyang was CTO of a Japanese researchinstitute where he headed R&D projects for corporations such asGoogle, Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, AOL, Sony, Fujitsu, and Toshiba.The software and databases he helped develop are now deployed inthe world’s top search engines, e-commerce portals, and machinetranslation systems. Haiyang’s research interest focuses on Internetmarketing. He has published multiple articles on e-commerce relatedtechnologies, and plans to pursue in-depth research on variousaspects of Internet marketing at INSEAD.Alminas Zaldokas (Lithuania/Finance)BSc Economics & Business, StockholmSchool of Economics, Riga; MSc Finance& Economics, London School ofEconomics & Political ScienceAfter graduating from Stockholm School of Economics in Riga,Alminas worked for 2.5 years as an analyst and later a projectmanager on various corporate finance assignments in Lithuania,Latvia and Belarus. He later completed MSc studies at the LSEand stayed to work there as a teaching assistant as well as aresearch assistant on the book on portfolio risk forecasting. Inthe last half year Alminas stayed at University of Mannheim,where he was enrolled in the Marie Curie Research TrainingNetwork in Behavioral Economics. Alminas currently studiesbehavioral corporate finance, although he is also interested in thefactor modelling and international finance. In the area of thelatter he built his Master thesis on negative network externalitiesin the competition between currencies.

6Man Zhang (China/Strategy)BA Accounting, Peking UniversityDuring her undergraduate studies, Cynthia energetically attendedgraduate seminars on strategy theory and worked as a researchassistant at the Department of Strategy at Peking University.Through her involvement in research on multinationalenterprises, she began to take an interest in innovation andknowledge flows under a cross-cultural context. In her junioryear, she participated in McGill Management International CaseCompetition 2006 in Canada and won the award. Beforeenrolling in INSEAD, she exposed herself to a broader Asia-Pacific business environment by studying business policy andstrategy at the National University of Singapore.Kaifu Zhang (China/Decision Sciences)B.Eng Computer Science, Tsinghua UniversityKaifu holds a BE degree in computer science from TsinghuaUniversity. During his undergraduate studies, Kaifusystematically self-studied micro-economics and psychology.During his exchange semester in Hong Kong, he was exposed toand became interested in the quantitative/computationalmodeling in social sciences. His independent research and RAexperiences include topics such as modeling of learning behaviorin strategic interactions, promoting truthful feedback in on-linerating system, and decision support in regional planning policyformation. His current interests include both descriptive behaviormodeling and normative decision support. He is particularlyinterested in the potential cross-fertilization of these two views.He is looking forward to further crystallizing his research topic atINSEAD.

Year 1: MSc Entry September 20077

8Zeina Loutfi (France/Canada/Decision Sciences)MSc Finance, HEC MontrealZeina completed a BA in Finance-Marketing in the excellenceprogram of HEC Montreal taking part in an exchangeprogram at ESSEC in Cergy-Pontoise, as well as a MScFinance from HEC Montreal. Her master thesis consisted ofthe development of a model linking stock returns to changesin different aspects of individual opinions (consensus,dispersion, heterogeneity). She was a research assistant duringher undergraduate studies and a lecturer during her graduatestudies, teaching Portfolio Management at the BA as well asat the MBA level. Since then she has been working for 8years, first as a financial analyst and then as a hedge fundmanager. She is highly interested in decision sciences andbehavioural finance, particularly in the context of modellingasset prices.

Year 2: Entry September 20069

10Sam Aflaki (Iran/Decision Sciences)BS Industrial Engineering, K. N. Toosi Universityof Technology, Tehran; MS Industrial Engineering,Sharif University of Technology, TehranAs a member of the “National Organization for DevelopingExceptional Talents”, Sam entered K. N. Toosi University ofTechnology in Industrial Engineering. He continued his studiesat MS level at the Sharif University of Technology. His thesisfocused on the applications of Game Theory models in Decision-Making. During his graduate studies, Sam was TA in Probabilityand Statistics. After receiving his MS degree, he started to workas a system analyst and project control advisor in the NationalIranian Oil Engineering and Construction Company, one of thelargest companies responsible for Iranian oil industry projects.Imran Chowdhury (USA/OB)BA Anthropology & Geography, City University ofNew York (Hunter College)Imran studied anthropology and geography at the City Universityof New York (Hunter College), where he developed specialinterests in public health, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, inparticular public-private partnerships (PPPs) bridging thesesectors. During this time he completed internships at Save theChildren USA and within the corporate human resources divisionof Pfizer, Inc.After graduation Imran spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar inLilongwe, Malawi researching the growth and evolution ofMalawi’s National AIDS Commission in response to rising ratesof HIV infection in the country. Most recently Imran wasemployed by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, abiotechnology PPP, first as a grants manager in the New Yorkoffice and subsequently as a consultant in Entebbe, Uganda.

11Zhijian Cui (China/TOM)BE, Tsinghua University; MS ManagementEuromed Marseille; MBA, Pepperdine UniversityZhijian received his Mechanical Engineering BE degree in Chinaand earned two management degrees from institutions in Europeand the U.S. Before joining INSEAD, Zhijian worked for fouryears in the manufacturing and production sectors, including 2years at supervisory level. Zhijian’s research main interests areproduction and technology management, inventory control, andthe optimization of manufacturing process.David Drake (USA/TOM)BS Psychology and Human & OrganizationalDevelopment and MBA, Vanderbilt UniversityPrior to his studies at INSEAD, David spent five years withRandom House, Inc. where he concurrently led project andpurchasing teams. In this role, David completed initiatives thatinclude designing and implementing a forecasting and lot-sizingsolution, leading a variety of vendor negotiations, andestablishing environmental standards for paper purchasing.During his masters’ studies, David earned a concentration inOperations Management and worked as a teaching assistant forthe core operations and managerial statistics courses. David’sresearch interests include exploring opportunities to improvesupply chain performance when faced with substantial demanduncertainty and investigating opportunities to reduce industry’senvironmental footprint, particularly by studying the recoveryand use of recyclable materials.

12Tomasz Obloj (Poland/Strategy)MS Management Studies, Warsaw School ofEconomicsTomasz spent his final year of study in the Department ofCultural Studies, Warsaw University and received his Master’sdegree with a specialization in Transaction Cost Economics.Afterwards he worked for 2 years as a teaching assistant at theWarsaw School of Economics. His research interests focus onintangible resources, tacit knowledge, cultural capital andperception of time in societies.Alfonso Pedraza Martinez (Colombia/TOM)BSc Industrial Engineering, Universidad de losAndes; MSc Economics, Universidad Nacional deColombiaSince August 2003, Alfonso has been an instructor in the area ofOperations and Technology at Universidad de los Andes Schoolof Management (UASM). Before joining UASM, Alfonsoworked in logistics with the Major’s Office of Bogota, Colombia.He was in charge of planning the operation of several servicesrelated to the recovery process from emergencies. His work hasbeen published by Cuadernos de Economia, a peer-reviewedperiodical. Alfonso has been reviewer for the annual conferencesof Business Association of Latin American Studies – BALAS(2005), and for the Academy of International Business – AIB(2005-2006). His research interests are supply chain disruptionsand humanitarian logistics.

13Andrey Petrichtche (Russia/UK/Strategy)MSc Finance, London Business School; MAInternational Relations, The Johns HopkinsUniversity, School of Advanced InternationalStudies; Diploma in Sociology, MoscowLomonosov State UniversityThroughout a 10-year post-graduation period Andrey has worked indifferent roles in the areas of fixed income and asset-backedsecuritization (Goldman Sachs), structured commodity and projectfinance (WestLB and EBRD), and corporate strategy and businessdevelopment (Anglo American). In his latest role at Anglo American, hewas responsible for developing the business strategy, and financialappraisal of investment projects in the Paper & Packaging division.His PhD thesis’ plan is to study the differences between strategic andfinancial (private equity) sponsors in revitalizing the newly acquiredunderperforming companies in mature sectors. Andrey is also interestedin applying the insights of managerial economics, and in particular gametheory, to understand the strategic issues in the competitive biddingprocesses in the context of M&A.Jennifer Petiriglieri (UK/OB)BSc Genetics, University of Nottingham; MBA,IMDJennifer received her undergraduate degree in Genetics fromNottingham University, UK, in 1998. She then spent six yearsworking in Organisational Development and Change, consultingto multinationals in the retail and pharmaceutical sectors. Herbusiness experience spans large scale restructuring, post mergerintegration, designing and implementing leadership developmentinitiatives and managing corporate communications.After completing her MBA at IMD in 2004, Jennifer worked as aresearch associate and behavioural consultant at IMD whilstpreparing for her doctoral studies. Her current interests lie in theareas of identity dynamics, life transitions and experientiallearning.

14Antonios Stamatogiannakis (Greece/Marketing)BA Business Administration and MSc Marketingand Communication, Athens University ofEconomics and Business (ASOEE)Antonis graduated in 2001 from the department of BusinessAdministration of the Athens University of Economics and Business(ASOEE), after receiving a scholarship from the NationalFoundation of Scholarships (IKY) for the record of his first year ofstudies. Then, he enrolled in the “Marketing and Communication”MSc program with full scholarship. Part of his Master’s Thesis(Music Downloading: Attitudes, Behaviors and Intentions) has beenpresented at the poster session of a major international marketingconference. After completing his compulsory military duty as anartillery sergeant, he worked at the career office of the University ofCrete. He got involved in research projects at the University of Crete(Career Office Usage, User’s Evaluation of an on-line registrationsystem) and at the National Technological University of Greece(“Perception of Bus Arrival Deviations”). Antonios is interested indoing consumer behavior research.Wenjie Tang (China/Decision Sciences)BS Physics, Fudan UniversityWenjie Tang received her bachelor’s degree in physics in 2005.During her undergraduate study, she devoted a lot of timemodeling problems in the social sciences by applying analyticmethods from physics. She was also a founder of the FudanUniversity Cycling Association and was largely responsible forits growth into a large and vigorous organization. During summer2005, she became a research assistant in a project on theinternationalization of China future trading. This experiencestrengthened her scientific rigor in other fields than physics.During her year of graduate study in theoretical physics inBoston, United States, she decided to change her major toDecision Sciences. Her interests now cover a wide variety ofquantitative methods in the social sciences.

15Moqi Xu (Germany/Finance)MBA Finance, Tulane University; Diplomkauffrau,Leipzig Graduate School of Management (HHL)Moqi received a Finance degree from HandelshochschuleLeipzig (Leipzig Graduate School of Management) and holds anMBA from Tulane University. She also studied Philosophy atUniversitaet Mannheim and Mathematics at the FeruniversitaetHagen. Moqi worked as a teaching assistant in cost accounting atthe University of Mannheim and spent 2 years working as aconsultant at McKinsey & Co. in Vienna, where she focused onstrategic topics within the travel & logistics industry. Herprimary research interests revolve around how financialdecisions are made and how governance structures influencecorporate behavior.Vijay Yadav (India/Finance)MS Statistics, Indian Statistical Institute; M.Phil,Indira Gandhi Institute of Development ResearchVijay received his Master of Statistics degree from IndianStatistical Institute. His dissertation for M.Phil degree fromIGIDR is in the field of “Emerging Stock Markets.” He hasworked in the Reserve Bank of India for seven years in theDepartment of Statistical Analysis and the Internal DebtManagement Department. Before joining INSEAD, he wasworking in the Division of Banking Studies in RBI. His primaryresponsibilities in this role included development of a frameworkfor assessing the stability of the Indian financial system andanalysis of trends in the deposits and advances of banks in India.

16Peter Zubcsek (Hungary/Marketing)MSc Informatics, Budapest University ofTechnology and EconomicsPeter completed his undergraduate and masters studies inHungary. In his thesis work he implemented a platform foraccelerating large-scale statistical analysis in an application ofGlobal Market Insite. In 2004, Peter moved to Vancouver,Canada where he continued developing data-manipulatingapplications for GMI while holding TA/RA positions at SimonFraser University (School of Computing Science, SFU Business).Back in Hungary, beside software development, Peter alsoworked in large domestic telecommunications projects on behalfof Andersen Business Consulting. His work experience alsoinvolves jobs at Raiffeisen Bank Hungary and at the Computerand Automation Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.He holds a silver medal from the 39th International MathematicalOlympiad that was held in Taipei, Taiwan R.O.C. in 1998.

17Year 3: Entry September 2005

18Hajo Adam (Germany/OB)BBA International Management, InternationalUniversity, GermanyHajo earned his Bachelor of Business Administration at theInternational University in Germany. An internationalmanagement major, he spent several studies abroad in the USand the UK. During his undergraduate studies, he was the TA forthe course “Systems Thinking” taught to BBA and MBAstudents, and developed a strong interest in research during aconsulting project for a leading American pharmaceuticalcompany. His subsequent bachelor thesis reviewed diversitymanagement practices in Germany and the UK. After havingcompleted the civilian service and having gained some workexperience at the Citibank Germany headquarters, Hajo ispursuing a PhD in organizational behavior. Intrigued by thepsychological mechanisms underlying business phenomena, he isespecially interested in research on cross-cultural psychology,emotions, and negotiations.Donal Crilly (Ireland/Strategy)BA Marketing, Dublin City University; MBAInternational Business Strategy, HitotsubashiUniversityDuring his undergraduate studies Donal spent one year at theTechnische Universität Berlin. Upon graduation from DublinCity University, he returned to Germany where he established aEuropean trading hub for KDDI, a Japanese telecommunicationsoperator. He worked for KDDI in three countries, lastly asGeneral Manager in London, where his involvement intelecommunications kindled an interest in network-basedindustries and architectures. During his graduate studies inTokyo he was active as a research assistant. His masters thesisconcerned co-opetition and co-evolutionary learning in theemerging mobile payments industry and his current researchinterests focus on inter-firm design, inter-organizational learning,systemic innovation and platform products.

19Dilney Gonçalves (Brazil/Marketing)BA Business Administration and MSc Marketing,Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, BrazilDilney graduated and received his master’s degree in Marketingat the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). Hisresearch interests are in the domain of consumer behavior,especially behavioral decision theory. Before his graduatestudies, he has been the Supervisor of Web Development at theFederal Court of Law in Porto Alegre, Brazil.Amit Jain (India/Strategy)B.Tech, Indian Institute of Technology; MBA,INSEAD; DEA, Université de Paris-DauphineAmit's research interests focus on firm boundaries, competitivedynamics and industry evolution. In addition, he has conductedresearch on the use of Information and CommunicationTechnologies and country competitiveness. Prior to joiningINSEAD, he has worked with Schlumberger in the Middle East,and has pursued several entrepreneurial opportunities in theInformation Technology space. Amit obtained a DEA (MSc) inMarketing and Strategy from the Université de Paris-Dauphine, aMBA from INSEAD, and a Bachelors of Technology inMechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology.

20Dolchai La-ornual (Thailand/Decision Sciences)BSE Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science,Duke University; MSE Industrial & OperationsEngineering, University of Michigan; MSEngineering-Economic Systems & OperationsResearch, Stanford UniversityUpon his graduation, Dolchai, a.k.a. “Khan” worked as a Senior TechnicalStaff Member at AT&T Laboratories in New Jersey. He later returned homeand was a Policy and Plan Analyst at the National Economic and SocialDevelopment Board before joining Mahidol University in the Faculty ofEngineering. During his graduate studies, he completed decision analysisconsulting projects for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District andChevron Corporation. His responsibilities at the telecommunicationsresearch center also included evaluating research projects in IP telephonyusing decision analytical techniques. He is interested in interdisciplinarydecision and risk analysis such as real options in research and development.His most recent work has ranged from studying the semi-definite property ofthe variance-covariance matrices to improving manufacturing processesthrough statistical analyses.Alberto Manconi (Italy/Finance)Laurea (BA) and Laurea Specialista (MA)Economics, Università di Pisa, Italy; MA Finance,Coripe Piemonte, Università di Torino, ItalyAlberto received his Laurea Specialistica (MA) from Universitàdi Pisa; his dissertation focused on stock repurchases and insiderdealing in the Italian financial market. After graduating fromUniversità di Pisa, Alberto attended Coripe Piemonte’s master’sdegree in Finance at Università di Torino. His academic interestslie in the fields of corporate finance and applied financialeconometrics.

21Javad Nasiry (Iran/TOM)BS Industrial Engineering and MBA, SharifUniversity of Technology, IranJavad completed his BSc in Industrial Engineering and MBA atSharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran. During hisundergraduate and MBA studies, Javad has worked as aresearch/teaching assistant for a variety of projects and courses.He also has work experience in supply chain management,technology management, IT consultancy and finance. He is theeditor of the book, "Accelerating Transformation: ProcessInnovations in the Global Information Technology Industry".Otilia Obodaru (Romania/OB)BSc, Academy of Economics Studies, Bucarest,RomaniaOtilia received her BSc in International Business from theAcademy of Economic Studies, Romania and attended courses inOrganizational Behavior at Wirtschaftsuniversitat, Austria andSeneca College of Applied Arts and Technologies, Canada.She worked for 4 years as a Human Resources Consultant withAIMS Romania. Here she was involved in various projects, suchas search and selection for managerial positions, assessment anddevelopment centers, employee opinion surveys andoutplacement.Her research interest is focused on career management –discovering all the relevant factors that influence career decisionsand understanding their impact, both on individual careers and onorganizational effectiveness.

22Nailya Ordabayeva (Kazakhstan/Marketing)BSc Management, Bilkent UniversityNailya received her BSc in Management from BilkentUniversity, Ankara, Turkey. Being involved in a project ofbuilding a university-search tool, tutoring undergraduate Microand Macroeconomics courses, and giving volunteer classes tounderprivileged children built her interest in the field ofeducation and academia. Her ultimate goal is to contribute to thequality of research and learning in the field of Marketing.

23Year 4: Entry September 2004

24Anupam Agrawal (India/TOM)B.Tech Aerospace Engineering, IIT Kanpur;PGDM (MBA), IIM CalcuttaAnupam graduated in Aerospace Engineering from IndianInstitute of Technology, Kanpur in 1992 and earned his PGDM(MBA) from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta in 1994.During his ten years in the Indian Industry, Anupam has workedwith ITW Signode (Application Engineering), Procter & Gamble(Sales systems) and Tata Motors (Materials Pricing, HumanResources and Supply Chain). He is interested in factors thataffect the competitive performance of business concerns,especially the impact of short-term decisions of supply chains,distribution networks and related information technology needson the long-term business strategy and results.Hakan Ener (Turkey/Strategy)BA Economics, Bogazici University; MBAEconomics, Bogazici UniversityHakan spent six years at Bogazici University in Istanbul forcompleting his BA and MBA. Concurrently selected as a Leaderof European Youth by the World Economic Forum in recognitionof his services at an international NGO, he communicated viewsof young Europeans on the future of the EU to wide audiences atDavos. Prior to joining INSEAD he was given the task ofbuilding a business case study collection as research assistant;co-authored an article and chapters of a book on internationalcorporate governance and did field work for a projectcoordinated by the Wharton School for profiling managers inTurkey.

25Rahul Kapoor (Singapore/Strategy)BASc Material Engineering, NanyangTechnological University, Singapore; MBA,National University of SingaporeAfter graduating in Materials Engineering from NTU, Rahulworked with Texas Instruments for two years, where he was partof a global product development team. He spent the next fiveyears being involved with two high tech start-ups; as a cofounderin a dot-com player and as a technology manager with asemiconductor manufacturer. During his start-up experiences,Rahul held a variety of responsibilities, which encompassedstrategic planning and implementation, technology development,marketing, and operations management. While working, Rahulalso earned an MBA from National University of Singapore in2002. His research interests lie in the area of Technology andInnovation Management, Technology Strategy, and Mergers &Acquisitions.Zsolt Katona (Hungary/Marketing)MSc Mathematics, Eotvos Lorand University,BudapestZsolt completed his undergraduate and Masters at Eotvos LorandUniversity. For his diploma thesis he studied random graphs,especially a new model of Barabási. This model can explainmany properties of huge networks, such as the World Wide Web.Prior to that, Zsolt worked in a more theoretical field ofmathematics; extremal set systems, where he had his first threepublications.

26Joseph Lajos (USA/Marketing)B.S., Business Administration and B.A., BroadcastJournalism, University of Southern California, LosAngelesJoe’s research is concentrated within the domain of consumerbehaviour. His current projects examine consumer decision makingin interactive virtual worlds such as Second Life, the various roles ofemotions in consumer information processing, and categorizationphenomena. Joe currently has papers under review at the Journal ofConsumer Research and Marketing Science, and has presented hiswork at the Association for Consumer Research North AmericanConference, the Marketing Science Conference, the London BusinessSchool Transatlantic Doctoral Conference, and a variety ofseminars. His paper, “CAM: A Spreading Activation NetworkModel of Subcategory Construction when CategorizationUncertainty is High” (co-authored with Zsolt Katona, AmitavaChattopadhyay, and Miklos Sarvary) won the 2006 ACR BestWorking Paper Award. In 2007, Joe will represent INSEAD at theAMA Sheth Foundation Doctoral Consortium at Arizona StateUniversity.Kanchan Mukherjee (India/Decision Sciences)B.Tech Electrical Engineering, IIT Kanpur; PGDM(MBA), IIM CalcuttaKanchan has almost 8 years of corporate experience in variouscapacities in organizations such as Ernst & Young, AmericanExpress and Capital One. At Ernst & Young, as a member of theCorporate Advisory Services team, he focused on BusinessModeling, Valuations and Restructuring. At American Express,as member of the Global Re-engineering team, he gainedextensive international experience helping in the re-design of thefinancial operations in Brazil and restructuring the MISorganization in Hong Kong. At Capital One, he played a leadrole in decision analytics and strategy in the prime assetportfolio. He also designed a system for objectively evaluatingand managing the performance of human credit analysts forwhich he made a patent application.

27Anne-Claire Pache (France/OB)MBA Business Administration, ESSEC; MPAPublic Administration, Harvard Kennedy SchoolA native from France, Anne-Claire Pache graduated in 1994 withan MBA from ESSEC Business School. At 22, she co-foundedUnis-Cité, a non-profit youth corps, enticing young people (18-25) to devote a year of full time community service. Convincedthat non-profit initiatives require more efficiency orientedpractices, she joined Harvard Kennedy School of Government’sMasters in Public Administration in 1999 to study non-profitmanagement. Upon graduation in 2001, she joined ESSEC tolaunch the first Social Entrepreneurship Center in a BusinessSchool in France. She was its associate director, and taught socialentrepreneurship to MBA students. She was also vice chair ofUnis-Cité’s board of directors.Noshua Watson (USA/Strategy)BA Economics, Mary Baldwin College; MAEconomics, Stanford UniversityNoshua’s research addresses the strategic implications oftradeoffs among legitimacy, agency, efficiency and performancein response to institutional pressures. Her interests include laborand environmental compliance issues, particularly codes ofconduct in the apparel industry. On these topics, she haspublished case studies for INSEAD and the United NationsGlobal Compact Office and a report for the EuropeanCommission-DG Environment. Before attending INSEAD,Noshua worked as a reporter at Fortune magazine in New Yorkand taught economics at Mary Baldwin College in Virginia.

28Lei Zhang (China/Finance)BS Mathematics and MS Mathematics, FudanUniversity, ShanghaiZhang obtained his bachelor’s degree in 2001, then began hisgraduate studies with specialization in stochastic control andmathematical finance at Fudan University. His research focusedon stochastic models and stochastic control problems in riskmanagement and asset pricing. His master’s thesis was aboutoptimization of risk and dividend flow with transaction costs.One part of that thesis was written together with ProfessorMichael Taksar and Professor Abel Cadenillas.He also has a strong interest in credit risk management andscorecard development in credit modeling. Now he is lookingforward to doing some significant research under the supervisionof the world-class faculty at INSEAD and making the bestpreparation for his academic career.

29Year 5: Entry September 2003

30Fabrice Cavarretta (France/OB)BA Mathematics, Ecole Polytechnique; MScComputer Science, ENSTA and StanfordUniversity; MBA, Harvard Business SchoolFabrice started his career at Oracle as a programmer in SiliconValley, moved to Schneider as head of an engineering group andthen manager of the production teams in a factory. Upon graduatingfrom HBS, Fabrice managed the internet access of VivendiUniversal, before starting their online bookstore. Recently, he hasbeen an entrepreneur by founding iPropi.fr, a startup leveragingsocial networks.His additional experiences include one year as a Lieutenant in theInfantry and Staff Officer training at the Reserve War College;internships as a consultant for CVA, and as an investment banker inM&A for Morgan Stanley; member of the investment committee ofV.C. fund GPartners.Previous dissertations papers are: “Expert System Simulation ofSpinoza’s Ethics” (Polytechnique 1988), “High-definition andDigital Television Market” (ENSTA 1991), “Payment Mechanismsfor Internet Commerce” (HBS 1996).Xianchi Dai (China/Marketing)B.Eng Internal Combustion Engine, TianjinUniversity; Master of Management, Shanghai JiaoTong UniversityXianchi received his Bachelor of Engineering and Masters ofManagement from Tianjin University and Shanghai Jiao TongUniversity respectively. His master’s thesis experimentallyinvestigated the impact of social distance and several otherfactors on risk preference. During his graduate study, he workedas a research assistant in China European International BusinessSchool (CEIBS), was involved in research projects oninterpersonal evaluations and intertemporal preference. Besidesthe research experiences, Xianchi also worked temporarily as amechanical engineer and marketing analyst in various industries.Now his research interests are in Behavioral Decision Theoriesand Cross-cultural Research.

31Prashant Deshpande (India/OB)B Chem (Eng), University of Bombay; MA (PM &IR), Tata Institute Social Sciences, Mumbai, IndiaAfter receiving his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineeringand his master’s degree in personnel management and industrialrelations, Prashant worked with Wipro (NYSE: WIT), a major IToutsourcing firm as a HRM specialist. There, he was responsiblefor providing analytical support and advice to top management inmany key policy decisions. His research focus is the evolution ofinter-organizational relationships with particular emphasis on therole of boundary spanning individuals.Dimo Ringov (Bulgaria/Strategy)BS International Business, Varna University ofEconomics, Bulgaria; MBA Finance and Strategy,Purdue UniversityUpon completion of his undergraduate studies in International Business,Dimo entered the “real world” as a junior consultant with Franchise BusinessAdvice, Ltd., a Swiss franchise consulting company based in Lucerne. In thiscapacity, Dimo developed business plans for several start-up projects,consulted with potential franchisees, negotiated project financing withEuropean development banks as well as venture capital and investment funds.Next, Dimo embarked on a position as a business development analyst at amajor Bulgarian petroleum products distribution company based in Burgas(Bulgaria). His primary responsibilities in this role included market andcompetitive analysis as well as the initiation and development of thecompany’s export activities. In 2001, Dimo decided to go back to school forhis graduate management degree and was selected by the J.W. Fulbrightboard for a Fulbright Graduate Study Grant for MBA studies in the UnitedStates. His academic achievement at Purdue University’s MBA program hasbeen acknowledged by Dean’s List awards, Beta Gamma Sigma membership,and a Krannert Scholar designation. The MBA experience solidified Dimo’sconviction to pursue a career as a researcher and thinker in strategicmanagement. He is eagerly looking forward to developing in-depthknowledge and research potential in strategic management at INSEAD.

32Tong Wang (China/Decision Sciences)B.Eng Industrial Engineering, Shanghai Jiao TongUniversity; M.Phil Systems Engineering, TheChinese University of Hong KongTong received his B.Eng in Industrial Engineering from SJTU in2001 and M.Phil degree in Systems Engineering and EngineeringManagement from CUHK in 2003. His research focuses onSupply Chain Management and Revenue Management. Duringhis graduate studies he published two papers on stochasticinventory models and one on airline revenue management. Hismaster’s thesis is about service level constrained (s, S) inventorymodels. He also worked as a teaching assistant of severalundergraduate-level courses such as Supply Chain Management,Logistics Management and Simulation.

33Year 6: Entry September 2002

34Roxana Barbulescu (Romania/OB)BA Economics, Stanford UniversityRoxana is nearing completion of her PhD in OrganizationalBehavior at INSEAD. Her research focuses on micro-sociologyof careers. In her doctoral dissertation Roxana is exploring therole of social capital and identity development in MBAs’ careerchanges. In other projects she is studying career trajectories inprofessional service firms, the role of narratives in work identityconstruction, and the use of organizational identity in everydaywork life. Before coming to INSEAD, Roxana worked forseveral years in financial services in New York. She has earned aBA with Honors in Economics from Stanford University and aMSc in Management from INSEAD.Gökhan Ertug (Turkey/OB)BSc Management, Bilkent UniversityGökhan received his bachelor’s degree in Management fromBilkent University in 2002. Throughout his undergraduatestudies, Gökhan had the chance to explore the sub-disciplines ofmanagement, in both their theoretical and practical frameworks.As a result of his sprouting interest in sociology, psychology,philosophy, and anthropology, Gökhan decided to pursue acarrier where he would be able to satisfy his curiosity and makediscoveries that would be concomitant to (the spirit of) thosefields.

35Manuela Giangrande (Italy/Strategy)BA Economics and Mathematics, WheatonCollege; MA International Economics and Finance,Brandeis UniversityManuela completed an MA in International Finance and Economics in May 1996at Brandeis University (USA). Her field of concentration was InternationalBusiness and Strategic Management. As part of the program she spent a semesterat ESSEC in France. She received a BA magna cum laude in Economics andMathematics from Wheaton College (MA, USA) in 1994. During both hergraduate and undergraduate studies, she worked as a research assistant for severalinstitutions, including the Massachusetts Office of International Trade andInvestment, and Integra Technologies Corp. In addition, she was a teachingassistant in Statistics at Brandeis University and Wheaton College.Following her graduate and undergraduate studies, she worked for two years atKPMG in Boston, as an economic consultant. There, she collaborated on all thedifferent phases of pharmacoeconomic studies on several therapeutic areas. Mostrecently, she has been working, as a research associate at INSEAD, on a EuropeanCommission project. The study examined how local adjustment strategies,designed to enhance productivity in labor intensive industries, have affected andwill affect in the future, regions which have traditionally been peripheral to theEuropean and global economies.Her research interests include: competitive strategy, industry competitiveness(dynamics) and industrial policy, comparative economic development, innovation,and the role of public policy in the internationalization of business.Ioanna Tziri (Greece/Decision Sciences)BSc Mathematics, University of Athens; MScBanking and Financial Management, University ofPiraeusIoanna completed her undergraduate studies in Mathematics atthe National and Capodistrian University of Athens, where shemajored in Applied Mathematics. After her undergraduatestudies, she entered the MSc program in Banking and FinancialManagement of the University of Piraeus. In addition to hernative language, she is fluent in English, French and Italian. Shehas worked as a teacher of mathematics and as a researchassistant in the project: “The Market Model: Is it Dead or Not? ”.Her interests cover both quantitative methods and finance andshe hopes that she would concentrate her research efforts incombining the two by working in such an area as behavioralfinance.

36Grigory Vilkov (Russia/Finance)Degree (Honors), World Economy (5-year MAequivalent), Finance Academy of the Governmentof Russia; MBA, William E. Simon GraduateSchool of Business Administration, University ofRochesterIn 1996 Grigory graduated from the Finance Academy of the Government ofRussia majoring in World Economy. His full time career started in 1993, andhe worked as a trader in different financial markets for about five years sincethen. He had the opportunity to work on various interesting projects rangingfrom the development of the financial derivatives trading department toinformation flows modeling in the newly created bank. In these years he alsoworked as a teaching assistant in the Finance Academy teaching "Securitiesand Exchanges". Later he spent 2 years in Rochester, NY studying towardshis MBA degree in the William E. Simon Graduate School of BusinessAdministration. In 2000 he spent several months in London as an intern inMerrill Lynch, and then several months in WHU Koblenz, Germany as anInternational Exchange Student. Having been interested in the riskmanagement for a long time, he also passed a Financial Risk Managercertification in 2001 (administered by the Global Association of RiskProfessionals).Yu Zhang (China/Strategy)BA Economics and Master of Management,Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityYu completed his undergraduate and masters studies at ShanghaiJiao Tong University.His master’s thesis focused on the diversification-performancerelationship of China's listed companies, and extended the studyinto the diversification-shareholder value relationshipaccordingly. He also participated in research projects such asmunicipal policy consultation and hi-tech firm strategyformulations.His internship experiences include summer interns in ChengduSecurities and Polaris Securities as a stock analyst, and a oneyearinternship in Intel China as a HR trainee.Yu is interested in corporate strategy and its impact on firm'sperformance.

37Year 7: Entry September 2001

38Vassilis Dimitrakas (Greece/Finance)BA Business Administration, Athens University ofEconomics and Business (ASOEE); MSc Finance;University of PiraeusVassilis has graduated from the department of BusinessAdministration of the Athens University of Economics (ASOEE)in 1997. After completing his compulsory military service heenrolled at the MSc program in Finance of the University ofPiraeus with full scholarship in September 1999. In January 2000he also enrolled at the Mathematics department of the Universityof Athens towards his second bachelor’s degree. He has workedat the University of Piraeus as a teaching assistant of Calculusand as a research assistant in the project “Diversification Benefitsof European Equity Portfolios. The effects of EMU on Countryversus Sector Allocation”.Metin Sengul (Turkey/Strategy)BSc Industrial Engineering, Istanbul TechnicalUniversity; MSc Engineering Management,Istanbul Technical University; MSc Management,Texas A&M UniversityMetin completed his undergraduate studies in 1995 with a thesison competition. He then specialized in Total QualityManagement initiatives while obtaining his first masters degree.Prior to studying in the USA he became involved inreorganization and TQM projects as a consultant, servingprimarily the health care industry. During his studies at TexasA&M he initiated research projects in divisionalization, secondmoveradvantages, strategic governance, and non-probabilisticlearning. During this period he also co-specialized in theoreticaland applied econometrics. Currently, his research interests are inthe areas of competitive strategy, industry dynamics, andevolutionary dynamics in business strategy.